Handbook for Lincolnshire

Front matter

MUR RAY* S FOREIGN HAN D BOO KS.

HANDBOOK DICTIONARY— ENGLISH, FRENCH, AND GERMAN

languages. Fcap. svo. 6s. HANDBOOK— TKAVEL TALK,— English, French, German, and Italian.

Preface

The present Handbook is, in the main, an original work, and represents a careful digest of notes accumulated during several years. Almost alone among the more important counties of England, Lincolnshire has nothing approaching the rank of a real County History ; nothing, in fact, of the whole, except Allen's inaccurate work, 1833-4. On the other hand, it has some remarkably good local topographies, of which the most accurate and comprehensive are Thompson's ' History of Boston,' 1856, and Bishop Trollope's 4 Sleaford and the Wapentakes of Flaxwell and Aswardhun,' 1872. Weir's 'Horncastle and Tattershall,' Oldfield's 4 Wainfleet and the Wapentake of Candleshoe,' and Nevinson's 4 Stamford,' deserve special mention. There are also an unusual number of thorough histories of single parishes, many of them only to be found with considerable difficulty ; but a complete Bibliography of the county has been issued as a supplement to 4 Lincolnshire Notes and Queries,' a quarterly magazine, published at Horncastle. The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Architectural Society, which holds high rank among such societies, has done good service by publishing annually a full account of the places visited, from the pen of Bishop Trollope. It seems extraordinary that the city of Lincoln, unquestionably one of the most interesting spots in all England, has as yet found no historian ; but it is announced as soon to be included, by the Kev. Precentor Venables, in the excellent series of 4 Historic Towns ' (Longmans).

The account of Lincoln Minster in this Handbook is based upon that of the late Mr. B. J. King in Murray's 4 Cathedrals of England and Wales,' somewhat shortened and simpli6ed, and carefully revised to the present date. Stamford and Crowland were included in the 4 Handbook to Northants and Kutland.' The accounts of both have been used, but have been practically re-written.

iv

Preface.

After the account of Friskney Church (p. 135) had gone to press, another remarkable painting was discovered in the S. clerestory, representing " Jews stabbing the Host." This seems to give the interpretation of the sequence as — N. side, the presence of Christ in His earthly ministry; S. side, in the Blessed Sacrament.

The present Editor may claim to have read nearly every work bearing on the topography, &c, of the county, and wherever it was possible the existing account of every place has been revised on the spot. All who are acquainted with such work will know how much labour this has entailed. Every possible effort has been made to secure accuracy ; but as mistakes and changes are inevitable, corrections will be thankfully received by the Editor, cave of Mr. Murray, 50a Albemarle Street, W.

The Editor's best thanks are due to the three specially qualified gentlemen who contributed the sections on Botany, Geology, and Natural History in the Introduction; and to the Bev. Precentor Venables, of Lincoln, who has most kindly revised the proof sheets, and made several valuable suggestions.

Contents

*** The names of places are printed in black in those Routes where the places are

described.

PAGE

Introduction

PAGE I

L General Character axd Statistics.

1. Size, Boundaries, Divisions, &c. . . [2]

2. Population . . [2]

3. Industry, Manufactures,

4. Agriculture . . [8]

5. Special Industries . [4]

7. Drainage Works. . [4]

II. Geology".

s.

Triassic formation

Liassic formation

Oolite

Cretaceous

Fossils and Drift Beds .

Fen-Beds .

Summary of Configura-

tion

III. Botany.

15. Reference Works . [7]

16. List of rarer Plants . [8]

IV. Natural History.

17. Change in the Fauna . [9J

V. History.

22. Roman Period . . [11]

23. Mercian Period . . Cl2J

24. Danish Period . > [12]

25. Later History . . [13]

26. Distinguished Men . [14]

PA(_E

VI. Antiquities.

27. British Remains. ♦ [15]

28. Roman Remains . [15]

Medixval.

29. Domestic Architecture [15]

31. Monastic Houses . [16]

Churches.

32. General Character in the

Three Divisions . [17]

33. Periods of Architecture [19] The best examples [19, 20]

Church Furniture.

Fonts

• [22]

Woodwork

. [23]

Stained Glass

• [23]

Monuments

• [23]

Brasses

• [24]

Easter Sepulchres

• [24]

Bells

• [24]

Houses, Parks, &c.

• [25]

Pictures .

• [25]

VII. Dialect.

45. Dialect of N. and S. parts [25]

VIII. General Tourists' View.

46. The Three Divisions . [26]

50. List of Centres for Ex-

[In the following Introduction reference is occasionally made to the Routes of the Handbook. The reader will find the page of the places mentioned by turning to the Index>~\

[Lincolnshire.'] b

[2] Introduction. — General Character and Statistics.

I. General Character and Statistics.

1. Size, Boundaries, Divisions, &c. — The general shape of the county of Lincoln is an irregular oblong, not at all unlike on the map that of England as a whole, if Boston Deeps be taken as representing the estuary of the Thames. It is the second in size of the English counties, and almost exactly as large as the West Hiding of Yorkshire (2611 sq. m. as against 2662 in the Hiding), or 19 times as large as Rutland. It lies between the parallels of 52° 39' and 53° 43' N. lat. ; 8° 22' E., and 56' W. long. To put it in a way more easily to be remembered, Barton-on-Humber is just as far north as Preston, while Stamford is opposite to Lichfield or Barmouth; and the meridian of Greenwich would almost exactly pass through Boston, Louth, and Grimsby. From the Humber to the Welland is 76 ml, and from the Trent to the German Ocean, or from the extreme point of the Isle of Axholme to the mouth of the Humber, is about 48 m. The boundaries are : N., the Humber, or °reat estuary of the Trent and Ouse ; E., the German Ocean and the Wash ; S., small portions of the counties of Norfolk, Cambridge, Northampton, and Rutland, and part of the Kiver Welland ; W., the counties of Leicester and Nottingham, with about 20 miles of the Kiver Trent. The outlying part beyond the Trent, called the Isle of Axholme (see Kte. 17), is bordered by the Old Kiver Don and the W. Riding of Yorkshire. It is divided into three " Parts " or Ridings : Lindsey, the " island of Lindum,', which occupies more than half the county, N. of the Witham and the Foss Dyke ; Kesteven, a word of unknown derivation, in the S.W. ; and Holland, the smallest Part, a word implying fenny ground, in the S.E. Lincoln, the county town, is on the borders of Lindsey and Kesteven.

Lindsey is divided into 15 Wapentakes (a Danish word, = " weapontouch," and meaning land held under a lord whose tenure was so recognised), 2 Sokes (an old English word = f< investigation,'7 and so meaning the tenure of land with a right to hold a court of inquiry), and 2 Hundreds (originally a rough division into a hundred families); Kesteven is divided into 9 Wapentakes and a Soke ; Holland into 3 Wapentakes only.

2. Population, &c. — Lincolnshire stands 15th among the counties in its population, which in 1881 was 469,919, coming between Sussex and Somerset. This is considerably more than any Scotch county, except Lanark, and any Welsh county, except Glamorgan, and gives an average of 180 to the square mile, very evenly distributed over the whole county, there being only two towns, Lincoln and Grimsby, of anything like considerable size, and only one small mining district, about Frodingham (Rte. 20). The two chief towns have grown with great rapidity of late years, Grimsby having had a population of only 982 in 1790, though now with its suburbs it exceeds 50,000, while Lincoln, which had a population of 20,000 in 1861, is now doubled. No other town exceeds 20,000. The largest of them, taken in order of population, are, Boston, Grantham, Gainsborough, Louth, Spalding, and Stamford, of which Boston and Grantham, as well as Lincoln and Grimsby, are Parliamentary and

Introduction. — General Character and Statistics.

municipal boroughs, while Stamford and Louth are municipal boroughs only. All the other market- towns are of a rural character, with a population of from two to four thousand. Their importance rests almost entirely on their market-day, which brings in a considerable number of country-folk, each market-town generally supplying a large district. Scunthorpe, a large hamlet of Frodingham, has recently grown into a market-town, owing to the population attracted by the mines of iron-stone.

3. Industry and Manufactures. — Lincolnshire being almost wholly an agricultural county the manufactures are, with one exception, unimportant. The exception is in the Agricultural Implement Works for which, it is noted. The growth of Lincoln in recent years is almost entirely due to these — combined with its greatly improved railway access — and the cathedral city is the principal seat of this industry. Here there are three very large Works (see Lincoln, Kte. 1), each with a speciality for particular kinds of agricultural implements: viz., Clayton & Shuttlewcrth' 's, Huston & Procter's, and Robey's, besides several smaller ones. The other large ones are IJornsby's at Grantham, and Marshall's at Gainsborough. This is a special feature of the county for all who are interested in the scientific development of agriculture, and a visit to one or other of these works (which is readily permitted) may be recommended. The iron-works of Frodingham and its neighbourhood are small compared with those in some parts of the country, but are on the increase. In 1887, 1,227,882 tons of ore were raised, and there were 13 blast furnaces at work, producing 200,000 tons of iron. There are no other manufactures worth naming except the whiting and lime-works of the chalk cliffs, gypsum, for plaster ceilings, found near the Trent, the hard Adamantine Clinker Bricks at Little Bytham, and the stone-quarries of Ancaster.

4. Agriculture. — In this industry Lincolnshire has long asserted a proud superiority (though East Lothian perhaps disputes it) to all other counties, nor is this surprising, seeing that of its broad surface 1,500,000 acres, or about 85 per cent., are under cultivation. The soils vary extremely with the geological formations, and there are a dozen different kinds of them across the county, so that almost every variety of farming has to be included. The area devoted to corn-crops, though tending to diminish, is at present about equal to that of permanent pasture and land with rotation grasses, while the space given to green crops is about f of either. It need scarcely be said that so agricultural a county has suffered very severely from the depression of the last decade, more particularly in the wolds and the fens. The cattle mostly raised are the Shorthorns and Lincolnshire breeds. The sheep are the large Lincolnshire breed, mostly crossed with the larger kind of Leicestershire, and are much better for their wool than their mutton. There is also a good breed of strong horses, and the horse fair at Horncastle is the largest in the country. Holdings, as a rule, are very large on the wolds, where the soil is light and chalky, varying from 500 to 2000 acres, but small in the marshes and the fens. The largest estate, by far, and an

[4] Introduction.— -General Character and Statistic^ admirable example of what cultivation can do, is Lord Yarborough's at Brocklesby (see Rte. 21). Of special agricultural processes the most interesting perhaps is warping (described in Kte. 17), which has created, especially in the Isle of Axholme, a black vegetable mould surface of extraordinary fertility. The rich, strong soil of Holland has retained to a small extent the cultivation of ivoad, for a blue dye (see Boston, Kte. 7), really greatly superior to the indigo by which it has been superseded ; but it cannot be grown in most places, being among the most exhausting of all crops.

- 5. Special Industries. — Most of the other special industries are nearly extinct. Cranberries used to be grown in large quantities in the marshes near Friskney, but few are now left. Rabbit-shins used to be the principal article of the trade of Brigg, especially from a beautiful silver rabbit still found occasionally on Santon (Rte. 20) and other commons; but the great warrens in the N.W. of the county are gradually coming under cultivation. Dairies seem little attended to in the county as a wmole, but the cream-cheeses of the marshes, to be procured at Skegness, or the eastern market-towns, are deservedly famous, owing to the richness and saltness of the pasture. Large flocks of geese are still kept in the Fens about Spalding, but their number has considerably diminished since the completion of the drainage.

0. Climate. — The common idea in the south of England that Lincolnshire is a damp and rainy county, is about as foolish as George III.'s notion that it was " all flats, fogs, and fens." It happens to be almost the driest county in England, the average rainfall being about 23 inches, while the rainfall of the whole country is over 30 inches ; that of Cornwall is 44; while Cumberland often has from 70 to 80; and sometimes among the mountains nearly 200! The mean annual temperature is 47° 9', or 1° 6' below that of Greenwich. But it must be admitted, on the other hand, that it is terribly exposed to the East winds, so admired by Kingsley, which sweep over its broad expanse from the German Ocean without anything to break their force. The higher parts of the county are exceptionally healthy, and even in the depth of the Fens or Marshes ague has almost entirely disappeared. It has left, however, one curious trace in the very prevalent habit of opiumtaking, which apparently began as a remedy for ague. Poppies are grown for opium in some parts, especially in the Isle of Axholme.

7. Drainage. — Owing to the great extent of dead level in Holland and Kesteven, Lincolnshire has more artificial drainage than any other county, and it has been carried out with such completeness that in the very deepest part of the Fens there is actually sometimes insufficient water for the pastures. Large drainage windmills, like those < f Holland, can be seen here and there in the Fens ; but they have mostly given place to engines worked by steam, as at Pcde Hole near Pinchbeck. The drainage of the county attracted attention from the very beginning of its history. The fine Carr-Dyke (see Thurlby, Rte. 5), which is still in full use, was a Roman work, connecting theNene, near Peterborough with the Witham near Lincoln, and absorbing the western

Introduction. — Geology.

waters of the Fen. The Foss Dyke is also a Eoman work, but more for navigation than drainage. Deeping Fen was drained by Richard de Rulos, lord of Bourn and Deeping, and chamberlain of the Conqueror, who embanked the Welland, and drained the fen into it so completely that he is said to have H changed deep lakes and impassable fens into most fruitful fields and pastures, and the most humid and moorish parts thereof into a very garden of pleasure." Presentments were made from time to time against those who were responsible for rivers or drains, such as the town of Spalding and the Abbey of Crowland, for neglecting the precautions so essential in a country much of which is actually below the water level. The largest advance in the drainage was begun in the reign of James I., and completed in that of Charles I. ; Sir William and Sir Antony Ayloff undertaking the Welland basin ; the Earl of Lindsey the fens of Holland and Kesteven from Bourn to Lincoln, for which he received 24,000 acres; the King undertaking Holland Fen, for which he claimed 8000 out of 22,000, and did the work badly too ; and Sir John Monson and others draining the valley of the Ancholme. To this period belongs the partially successful attempt of Cornelius Vermuyden to drain Hatfield Chace and the Isle of Axholme, by means of Dutch workmen, wThich is fully described in Smiles' * Lives of the Engineers' (see Isle of Axholme, Ete. 17). Great opposition was always made to the drainage schemes by the " Feu-slodgers " and " Stilt-walkers," the descendants of the Gyrwas described by Camden, who gained their livelihood by fowling and fishing, and therefore during the commotions of the Civil War destroyed many of the works already completed. In 1720 the North Forty Foot Drain was made, the first of the new artificial system in place of the old one of aiding the natural drainage. The Grand Sluice at Boston was opened with great ceremony in 1764, and Holland Fen was first dealt with. Wildmoor, East and West Fens, on the other side of the river, a vast unreclaimed tract of about 60,000 acres (see Leake and Wrangle Station, Rte. 13), were treated by Rennie on his system of " catch-water drains," which is explained in Rte. 10. With the completion of this scheme, about 18?0, the fens in the old sense, like the old race of " fen-slodgers," may be said to have become extinct.

II. Geology.

Till within the last few years the geology of Lincolnshire was unduly neglected from the supposed absence of important minerals, and from the large amount of drift concealing its strata; but full information is now given in the maps and accompanying memoirs of the Geological Survey (pub. by Stanford, Charing Cross).

8. The stratified rocks of which the county is composed run in broad parallel bands from N. to S., but with a gentle dip eastwards. The result of this slant or dip is that we find the lowest ( and therefore the oldest) bed or band of rock on the W. side of the county, forming the Vale of Trent, and extending about 2 m. E. of the river. This lowest rock is the stiff red marl, called Keuper Marl, which is dug for brick-

Introduction. — Geology.

making near Epworth. It is the uppermost member of the important geological formation known as the Trias. Above and to the E. of the Trias lie the Bhcetic beds, black shales with thin limestone bands, altogether about 60 ft. in thickness, which can be traced from Newark by Gainsborough to the Humber. These form passage-beds between the Trias below and the Lias above.

9. The Lower Lias is a thick bed (400 ft.) of shale and limestone, which contains a valuable bed of ironstone, 27 ft. thick, well seen in the Frodingham railway cutting (Rte. 20), and forming the adjoining plain on which the mining village stands. The ore contains about 28 per cent, of metal, and its limy nature makes it valuable as a flux to mix with other silicious iron-ore, such as is found near Lincoln. The Middle Lias, as Marlstone, consists of clays covered by a hard limestone band (the " Rock-bed "), 20 ft. thick at Belvoir Castle, but diminishing to 8 ft. at Santon Common, near the Humber. At Caythorpe, between Grantham and Lincoln, it is now worked for iron-ore. The Upper Lias is a mass of blneish clay, 200 ft. thick at Stainby on the Leicestershire border, but thinning by Grantham and Lincoln to 60 ft. at Santon. The total breadth of the band formed by the Liassic strata is 10 m. in S. Lincolnshire, but only 1 by the Humber. The Upper Lias clays form the steep W. slope of the remarkable ridge or escarpment known as "the Cliff " (see Rte. 1), a range which extends from Leicestershire to the Humber, and is then continued by the Yorkshire Wolds, but has by far its most picturesque part between Grantham and Lincoln.

10. This elevation is due to the hard rocks belonging to the Oolite formation, which form its crest and E. slope. The lowest division of the Oolite is called the Northampton Sand (red sand-stone, 30 ft. thick) ; aboye which is the Lincolnshire Oolite Limestone, from 80 to 100 ft. thick, which is largely worked at Ancaster and at Clipsham on the Rutland border for a fine building stone. Still higher, and further E., come other oolitic strata; the Great Oolite, from which comes the hard brickmaking clay of Little Bytham, 75 ft. thick, and the shelly limestone called the Cornbrash, 15 ft. thick. Above these we find a great thickness of oolitic clays; the lower part (500 ft.), called the Oxford Clay, and the upper (600 ft.), the Llimmeridge Clay. This great bed of clay extends down Mid-Lincolnshire between the Heath and the Wolds.

11. The third great geological formation is the Cretaceous, which includes the Chalk. The W. slope of the Wolds is formed of sandstones, ironstones, and clays, known as Lower Cretaceous or Neocomian. Iron-ore has been worked in these beds near Caistor. The top and E. slope of the Wolds consists of the well-known White Chalk, having a band of red chalk (called the Hunstanton Bed) at its base. The total thickness of this pure white limestone is here about 1000 ft. It contains numerous layers of hard, black flints.

12. In all the stratified rocks described fossils may be found. The Trias contains very few ] but in the Liassic, Oolitic, and Cretaceous

In troduction . — Botany.

strata, the remains of numerous species of shells, fishes, reptiles, &c., may be found. The Museum of the Literary and Scientific Institute at Stamford contains a large collection of fossils. But besides the stratified rock we find irregular masses of clay, sand, and gravel, unstratified, and containing no fossils, which rest indescriminately on the edges of all the stratified bands, and to which the name of Drift or Boulder Clay is applied. This surface deposit is believed to be due to the action of glaciers, which at a comparatively recent geological period passed over Lincolnshire from the N., abrading and wearing down the surface, and leaving when they melted these confused irregular sheets of stony clay and sand.

13. Later still than the Drift are the Fen-Beds, which occupy a strip along the coast and widen out round the Wash into the level expanse of the Fen-land. These fen-beds consist of fine mud, "silt" or " warp," with intervening beds of peat and stumps of trees. They occupy about 600 sq. m., including the whole of Holland. A boring for water at Boston passed through 24 ft. of silt, 161 ft. of boulder-clay, and penetrated the oolitic clays for nearly 400 ft. But the most famous deep boring executed in Lincolnshire was one at South Scarle, near Newark, in 1876. This passed through — Drift, 10 ft.; Lowir Lias, 65 ft. ; llhastics, 66 ft. ; Triassic clays and sandstones, 1359 ft. ; Permians, 519 ft. At the bottom of the borehole strata which were thought to belong to the coal-measures were reached, and penetrated to a depth of 10 it. The total depth of the borehole was thus 2029 ft. ! The very valuable iodine and bromine water at Woodhall was accidentally discovered in boring for coal.

14. The present configuration of the surface of the county is due to the action of rain and rivers, frost and ice, upon the rocks for many thousands of years. The harder rocks — the oolitie limestone of the Cliff, the chalk of the Wolds, and the thick bed of Lias — have stood the wear and tear better than the softer strata of clay which are sandwiched between them. Thus we now have lines of hills running N. and S., with valleys formed out of the softer rocks between them.

III. Botany.

15. The Botany, like the Geology, of Lincolnshire has been unduly neglected, and nothing approaching to a complete " Flora " of the county has ever been attempted. The most complete list is that drawn up by Mr. James Britten for White's ' Gazetteer of Lincolnshire,' based upon the late Mr. H. C. Watson's ' Topographical Botany ' (1st ed. 1874). The list here given is a carefully verified one of all Lincolnshire plants found in less than 50 of Mr. Watson's 112 artificial divisions, founded on Baker and Newbould's 2nd ed. of Watson, 1888. It is not thought advisable to name the exact localities. The main divisions of the county here again are into North and South, or the basins which drain respectively into the Humber and the German Ocean, or the Witham and the Wash, The order followed is that of the 'London Catalogue

Introduction. — Botany.

of British Plants,' 8th ed. 1886. The local lists are mostly obsolete, but Miller and Skertchley's 'Fenland' (Wisbech, 1878) and a paper by Mr. W. H. Beeby (Journ. of Botany, Jan. 1884) will be found useful. A little bit of the true fen still remains near Dogdyke Stat. (Kte. 10).

16. Anemone pulsatilla.

R. Baudottii.

Fumaria pallidiflora.

F. Vaillantii.

Nasturtium amphibium.

Barbarea stricta.

Cochlearia anglica.

Crambe maritima.

Reseda lutea.

Viola Reichenbachiana.

Polygala calcarea.

Silene noctiflora.

Stellaria nemorum.

S. tenuifolia.

Lepigonum salinum.

L. marginatum.

Hypericum elodes.

Linum perenne.

Rhamnus catharticus.

Medicago maculata.

Mellilotus arvensis.

Trifolium maritimum.

T. scabrum.

Astragalus hypoglottis.

Hippocrepis comosa.

Vicia sativa.

Lathyrus Aphaca.

L. tuberosus.

L. maritimus.

Pyrus Aria.

Drosera intermedia.

Callitriche vernalis ?

C. hamulata?

Epilobium tetragonum.

Eryngium maritimum.

Bupleurum rotundifolum.

B. tenuissimum.

Cicuta virosa.

Carum segetum.

Sium latifolium.

Pimpinella major,

Foeniculum officinale.

Selinum Carvifloria.

Peucedanum palustre.

Caucalis daucoides.

Galium tricorne.

Filago spathulata.

Artemisia maritima.

Senecio paludosus.

S. campestris.

Arctium majus.

Cnicus eriophorus.

C. pratensis.

C. acaulis.

Arnoseris pusilla.

Crepis biennis.

Campanula glomerata.

Statice Limonium.

S. reticulata.

Hottonia palustris.

Erythra;a pulchella.

Gentiana Pneumonanthe.

Symphytum tuberosum.

Myosotis sylvatica.

Calystegia Soldanella.

Verbascum nigrum.

Linaria spuria.

Sibthorpia europsea.

Melampyrum cri^tatum.

Calamintha Nepeta.

Stachys germanica.

Galeopsis dubia.

Tcucrium Scordium.

Herniaria glabra.

Atriplex marina.

A. laciniata.

A. portulacoides."

A. pedunculata.

Polygonum viviparum.

Rumex maritimus.

R. palustris.

Corylus Ayellana,

Introduction, — Natural History.

Salix ambigua.

Orchis purpurea.

Aceras anthopophora.

Ophrys apifera. 0. aranifera.

Habenaria conopsea.

Asparagus officinalis.

Convallaria majalis.

Allium oleraceum.

A. carinatum.

Colchicum autumnale.

Juncus difFusus.

J. obtusiflorus.

Sparganium ramosum.

S. affine.

Potamogeton plantagineus,

P. praelongus.

P. acutifolius.

P. flabellatus.

Ruppia spiralis.

Scirpus Tabernaemontani.

S. rufus.

Rhynchospora fusca.

Cladium germanicum,

Carex divisa.

C. divulsa.

C. stricta.

C. distans.

C. extensa.

C. Oederi.

C. filiformis.

C. pseudo-cyperus.

Calamagrostis lanceolatus.

Festuca loliacea.

F. myurus.

Bromus erectus.

Brachypodium pinnatum.

Agropyron pungens.

A. acutum.

A. junceum.

Lepturus filiformis.

Horde urn maritimum.

Elymus arenarius.

Lastraea thelypteris.

IV. Natural History.

17. The fauna and flora of Lincolnshire, together with the neighbouring counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon, have altered more in ihe last two centuries than in any other English districts. Enclosure and drainage have almost entirely destroyed some species and driven away others ; while the number of birds and animals frequenting the county has immensely fallen off also from causes common to nearly the whole of England.

18. Mammals. — The bones of the wolf and wild boar have frequently been found, and the jaw of a beaver was discovered lately in one of the becks. Herds of wild red deer pastured in the Forest of Kesteven and on Hatfield Chace, where James L hunted them. In the Inquisition of 1607 it is stated that the number amounted to 1000 head. A true wild cat was shot in a wood near Wragby as late as 1883, and the marten is still occasionally found in that neighbourhood. Foxes are so common that it is sometimes necessary to light fires to protect the lambs. Otters, badgers, polecats, water-shrews, and other less uncommon animals are found all over the county ; the dormouse rarely, except in the S.W. Seals, both the common and the gray variety, and occasionally a stray porpoise or whale, are seen at times on the sandbanks off the coast. But none of the animals seem to increase. At most, like foxes, they hold their own ; while hares, with which the county swarmed not long ago, are now becoming almost rare animals.

19. Birds, — Owing to its long; sea-board inviting migrants from oyer the German Ocean, Lincolnshire is exceptionally favoured in bird-*

Lio]

Introduction. — Natural History.

life. They may be roughly divided into birds of the wold, the fen, and the shore. Most of the ordinary inland birds can be found on the Wolds, including, though rarely, the hawfinch, quail, ring-ousel, and dipper. The nightingale is common in the S.W. of the county, but very rare elsewhere. A kite's nest was taken near Wragby in 1870. But the fen and shore birds, before the great drainage schemes, were far more important. Fuller calls the county the " Aviarie of England," and speaks of its wild-fowl as " remarkable for their Plenty, Variety, and Deliciousnesse." Drayton (c. 1620) says in his Polyolbion, xxv. :

" My various fleets [drains] for fowl, Oh, who is he can tell The species that in me for multitudes excel ? The duck and mallard first, the falconer's only sport (Of river-flights the chief, so that all other sort They only green-fowl term), in every mere abound, That you would think they sat upon the very ground ; Their numbers being so great, the waters covering quite, That, raised, the spacious air is darkened to the flight."

All the species Drayton then proceeds to name are still found, though with increasing rarity, except the great bustard, which is now extinct in the British isles. The osprey he describes as " oft here seen." It may still at times be seen fishing in the marshes of the Humber. Pennant, in the last century, adds several touches to Drayton's picture, mentioning, amongst others, black terns, " deafening the traveller with their cries ; " quantities of avocets (called i( yelpers " or " yaupers," from their cry) near Fossdyke Wash; and a heronry like a rookery at Cressy Hall, near Gosberton (Kte. 4); he counted 80 nests on one tree ! Herons have now deserted Cressy, and the last avocet known to be bred was on an island near Trent Falls (lite. 20), about 1841. On Twigmoor Warren is an enormous nesting-place of the Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), described in Kte. 19. Only two duck-decoys are now worked, one near Crowland (Rte. 7), and the other at Ashby, near the Trent (Kte. 20). Sir K. Payne-Gallwey gives a list of 37 disused ones. The average take at Ashby for a long time has been nearly 3000 fowl in a season.